A daily record.
Featuring photos of wild birds and nature, mainly from Okinawa Main Island and Ishigaki Island

A distant Pin-tailed Snipe.

This one is a Swinhoe's Snipe. The moult into breeding plumage is well advanced.

There was a Common Snipe nearby as well.

A distant Pin-tailed Snipe.

Same individual as above, but the impression changes as the bird shifts its angle.

These two Common Snipe were spotted in the distance.

These three Swinhoe's Snipe. Getting three Swinhoe's Snipe in a single shot in spring is quite a find. ^^

A singing female Greater Painted-snipe. Some males are already accompanied by chicks. This individual seems to be the resident of the area.

Pectoral Sandpipers are gradually increasing in number.

Wood Sandpipers facing off. They get into skirmishes quite often.

Black-winged Stilt in flight. First-summer plumage.

A pair of Black-winged Stilts was mating, though there are no breeding records for Ishigaki Island.

Oriental Pratincoles flying about. Numbers are growing day by day.

A small flock of Pacific Golden Plovers has also arrived.

Pin-tailed Snipe spotted on a distant paddy bank. The backlight makes observation tough… ^^;

Another Pin-tailed Snipe. Looks very similar to the individual above.

Also a Pin-tailed Snipe. Compared to the individual above, this one tends darker.

Common Snipe (left) and Pin-tailed Snipe. The Pin-tailed Snipe is the same individual as the one at the top.

Another Pin-tailed Snipe, mid-moult into breeding plumage.

Swinhoe's Snipe (right) and Pin-tailed Snipe. In this case the size difference is clear, but in the field you basically can't identify them by size alone.

A Pin-tailed Snipe that came up onto a concrete block in the evening. This was the individual that had been hiding in the grass all day.

A Swinhoe's Snipe that wouldn't come out of the grass.

Another Swinhoe's Snipe in the grass.

I don't often get a chance to photograph them, but there was a Common Snipe here too.

While I was watching a flock of Black-winged Stilts, a Whimbrel came down. Looking at it this way, the Whimbrel is surprisingly small — or is it that the Black-winged Stilt is large?

About 20 Oriental Pratincoles had come down. Three are visible in this photo.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl keeping watch.

A Ruddy Kingfisher was perched nearby as well.

This Ishigaki Tit appeared to be searching with its partner for a nesting site. It was peering into a Ryukyu Scops Owl nest hole and alarm-calling noisily.

I was able to observe a Pin-tailed Snipe at close range. Though too close is its own problem.

This one is a Swinhoe's Snipe. Still showing a lot of winter plumage.

Pin-tailed Snipe spotted in the distance.

This Pin-tailed Snipe was also a little too close.

This one is also a Pin-tailed Snipe. A good number of Pin-tailed Snipe showed up today.

This is a rather plump, well-fed Swinhoe's Snipe.

A Pin-tailed Snipe associating with the Swinhoe's Snipe above.

A Swinhoe's Snipe that went into alert posture because I got too close.

Only one Pin-tailed Snipe today, but numbers could increase with the coming second wave of migration.

This one is a Swinhoe's Snipe.

Also a Swinhoe's Snipe, preening — the tail feathers are visible.

This Swinhoe's Snipe is also preening. The way the tail feathers show here is often mistaken for Pin-tailed Snipe.

大柄なチュウジシギ。渡りに備えてでっぷりと太っていました。

Three Swinhoe's Snipe.

While I was watching the snipe, a female Greater Painted-snipe appeared.